TAIPEI: Despite the influence of pop-culture, movies, television and fashion magazines, traditional rules of courtship still apply in southern Taiwan.

Young men and women there hold to the convention that boys must take the initiative in forming relationships, according to a poll published yesterday.

Thirty-seven percent of those who took part in the survey also said they are hopeful of finding a relationship that makes them feel loved by someone.

The survey polled students at six high schools and vocational schools and seven colleges and universities in Tainan city about views toward love and relationships.

Almost 90 percent of the students surveyed said they had no clear idea of how to approach someone of the opposite sex who interested them.

Sixty percent cited "changes of heart" and "cheating" as the leading causes for the breakup of romantic relationships, the poll found.

Thirty-one percent voiced willingness to resume a relationship if problems leading to a breakup were resolved.

More than 70 percent disavowed relationships with more than one person at a time. Among female students, 70 percent said they would not enter a relationship with a man who lived far from them.

As many as 96 percent of women responding to the poll said height matters. Young ladies want boyfriends who are taller than they.

About 30 percent of the all respondents said spending on dates should be evenly divided, while 48 percent believed the question of who-pays-the-bill should depend on circumstances. Eighty percent of male students said they wanted to pick up the tab.

Sixty-four percent of both male and female students agreed that a married couple should rear children. Some said they would sign pre-nuptial agreements to establish priority issues in the marriage.

The poll was conducted by Tainan city's family education center between Jan 1-10. Of 1,100 questionnaires distributed, 989 responses were deemed valid.

CNA

(HK Edition 02/12/2009 page1)